Edna Bonhomme

Edna Bonhomme is a historian of science, culture writer, and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin. She previously taught at Humboldt University in their “Diversities of Knowledge Programme” and at Bard College Berlin, where she instructed courses on science and colonialism. Her work bridges history, digital humanities, and postcolonial critique.

Her research explores the intersections of epidemics, colonialism, and surveillance, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. She examines how disease control, climate change, and data collection reflect historical power dynamics. Her creative projects, such as the “Cartographies of Care” exhibition, highlight Black diasporic health experiences in Germany.

• Recipient of the Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (2012/2014) and New York Public Library Research Scholar designation
• Co-organizer of the “Troubling Epistemics and Postcolonialism” reading group at MPIWG (2019–Present)
• Co-created the “Decolonization in Action” podcast to connect artists and researchers

Her forthcoming book A History of the World in Six Plagues (2025) traces how pandemics have perpetuated inequality, from cholera to COVID-19. She is also a co-editor of After Sex (2023), a collection of essays on intersectional feminisms.